Paul Hatch: No Surprise at at John Elway's endorsement of Mitt Romney

I had to chuckle at John Elway's endorsement of Mitt Romney. If I am not mistaken, the Denver Broncos play in a primarily taxpayer provided stadium and reap a significant portion of the revenue.

This taxpayer funded windfall allowed the Broncos to pay John Elway and his ilk their extraordinary salaries while Pat Bowlen got to keep his. I suppose that Pat Bowlen and John Elway would claim 'they built that.' By the way, the tax revenue and jobs were there before the new stadium.

After the Broncos' second Super Bowl victory, Pat Bowlen threatened to break the lease on Mile High Stadium and take the Broncos elsewhere unless he got a new stadium. The excuse was that the Broncos couldn't be competitive and continue to win Super Bowls in the old Mile High.

The fans bought it and the Broncos got their new taxpayer funded stadium with roughly the same total number of seats as Mile High but significantly more luxury boxes. Interestingly, a number of wealthy neighborhoods, including those where many players lived, were gerrymandered out of the taxing district while communities some distance away from the stadium, such as Boulder where the initiative was not popular, were included. In addition, the committee that was supposed to be representing the taxpayers was provided access to those luxury boxes once completed.

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Let's see, increased taxes on the general population so that billionaires and millionaires can make more while failing to deliver on the stated basis for the corporate welfare (more Super Bowl victories); honestly, I would have been surprised if John Elway supported anyone other than Mitt Romney. Besides, I always take political advice from former professional athletes. It just makes good sense!

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